ABSTRACT
The people and the traditions that have developed over the past 300 years make the American South a unique and distinctive region. Interactions with Native Americans, wars with the British, French, and Spanish, and the mass importation of African slaves altered the course of history and race relations in the region. As southern colonies and other southern territories became established, a common experience branded the region with a uniquely southern tradition: the martial spirit that is manifested in a military tradition on the battlefield, and the influence of military culture on the southern family (see Figure 6.1).
